<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Autocar India Ford Drive 2009
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Ford India and Autocar India are on an epic 20,000km drive across the country. The 'Ikon Cross Country Drive' will pass through 26 state capitals and three union territories of India and will take a total of 46 days to cover the entire distance.

The drive was flagged off from Ford’s manufacturing facility in Chennai on 22nd April 2009. A Ford Ikon with the new 1.4-litre DuraTorq, common-rail TDCi engine under its hood, is the chosen vehicle for this pan-India drive. The car is a standard Ikon diesel, without any modifications what-so-ever. The car will be undergoing service checks at stopovers at Ford's widespread authorized service centres en-route the 20000km run.
The journey will test both man and machine as it traverses through varied and extreme conditions. From the sapping heat of Rajasthan to the numbing chill of the Himalayas; from rutted mountain trails to smooth expressways; from the gridlock of Hosur Road to the runway-like Rajpath; the drive will encounter the complete tapestry of climatic, geographical and road conditions.
The car is manned by a two person crew from Autocar India who are rotated every six days. KPMG have been appointed as independent auditors to validate the proceedings and the end result of the drive program.

The team will monitor and log every parameter of the car’s performance including fuel consumption, tyre wear, and consumables like engine oil, brake fluid etc to establish its true-world fuel efficiency and cost of ownership after 20,000km.
The drive will end on 6th June 2009 at the Ford India's manufacturing plant in Chennai.
 
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Day 20 Srinagar - Pathankot

Today we continued our journey from Srinagar to Pathankot. We left Srinagar a little late from our usual time as we got tempted to see Srinagar’s scenic beauty and take a ride in the Shikara to enjoy the Dal lake.

There is lot that you can see in the Dal lake. You can have joy rides like water skiing and there is a whole floating market, where you can buy the traditional Kashmiri stuff at a good rate. We were going to take the same road as yesterday to Pathankot.

But as we encountered the twisty section in day light it was much easier and faster. The weather was better with no rain showers like yesterday and we covered ground faster. The road was mostly downhill, so it further added to our pace and because of the daylight we got to see some breathtaking scenery which we sorely missed yesterday as we drove some part of this road in the night time.

We started from Srinagar after 1pm and it took us about 13 hours to reach Pathankot. We got some decent fuel efficiency despite the twisty road conditions. We got 23.49kpl on the lead Ikon and 23